Deuteronomy 1:24

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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אֶשְׁכֹּ֑ל

ʼEshkôl

H812

“Eshcol”

Noun, Proper

Appears 6× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 14:13

Full BDB Definition

Origin: the same as H811

TWOT: None

Eshcol = "cluster" - an area of Hebron, the valley of Eshcol - an Amorite, the brother of Mamre, dwelling in Hebron

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is אֶשְׁכֹּ֑ל Eshcol H812 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

אֶשְׁכֹּ֑ל Eshcol H812 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
3 nouns
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיִּפְנוּ֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיַּעֲל֣וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַֽיְרַגְּל֖וּ Piel · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 23 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 14 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 1:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 13:21–27 So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.
Joshua 2:1–2 Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying, Go, view the land, and Jericho. They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lay there.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 1:24 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּפְנוּ֙ וַיַּעֲל֣וּ הָהָ֔רָה וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ עַד נַ֣חַל אֶשְׁכֹּ֑ל וַֽיְרַגְּל֖וּ אֹתָֽהּ

and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 1:24 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἐπιστρέφω ἀναβαίνω εἰς ὁ ὄρος καί ἔρχομαι ἕως φάραγξ βότρυς καί κατασκοπεύω αὐτός

And they turned and went up to the mountain, and they came as far as the valley of the cluster, and surveyed it.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאִתְפְּנִיוּ וּסְלִיקוּ לְטוּרָא וַאֲתוֹ עַד נַחֲלָא דְאַתְכָּלָא וְאַלִילוּ יָתַהּ

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאִתְפְּנִיּוּ וּסְלִיקוּ לְטַוְורָא וְאָתוּ עַד נַחֲלָא דְאַתְכְּלָא וּתְרִגִינוּ יָתָהּ

and they turned and went up into the mountain, and came to the stream of Ethkela, and explored it.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 1:24 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Deu 1:24-25. Eshcol — That is, grapes, so called from the goodly cluster of grapes which they brought from thence. It is a good land — So they said unanimously, Num 13:27. Only they added, that they were not a match for the inhabitants of it, as is intimated Deu 1:28.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

1:24-25 Eshcol means “cluster”; the fruit grown there was grapes (see Num 13:23-27).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Or, valley of the cluster of grapes.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) The valley of Eshcol.—See Num_13:24.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

24. and they turned] See on Deu_1:7.

the mountain] The Mt of the Amorite: see on Deu_1:7. So JE, Num_13:17, but it adds through the Negeb; see on Deu_1:20.

the valley of Eshcol] LXX φάραγξ βότρυος, ‘ravine of the cluster’; but Heb. naḥal is the Ar. wâdy, a valley with a winter-stream, Gk χειμάῤῥοος, Ital. fiumara. Heb. ’eshkôl is the Ar. ’ithkâl (weakened from ‘ithkâl with initial ‘ayin), a cluster of dates or palm-branch with clusters, and means a cluster of dates, Son_7:8, or of grapes as here (dates not ripening so high as Ḥebron). As a place-name Eshkôl occurs elsewhere only in P, Num_32:9; but in Gen_14:13; Gen_14:24 as the name of a person, the brother of Mamre the Ạmorite at Ḥebron. The neighbourhood of Ḥebron is fertile with numerous springs, and the vine flourishes there. Baedeker (5th ed. 134) reports to the N.W. a Wâdy Iskâhil. While JE and D take the spies no further than Ḥebron, P, Num_13:2; Num_13:17; Num_13:21; Num_13:25, describes them as exploring the whole land, from the wilderness of Ṣin to Reḥob, the entry to Ḥamath, and as taking 40 days.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And they turned and went up into the mountain,.... As they were ordered and directed by Moses, Num 13:17.

and came unto the valley of Eshcol; so called from the cluster of grapes they cut down there, as they returned:

and searched it out; the whole land, and so were capable of giving a particular account of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The valley, or, the brook: the word signifies both, for brooks commonly run in valleys.

Of Eshcol, i.e. of grapes, so called from the goodly cluster of grapes which they brought from thence, Num 13:23.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

24, 25. It is a good land — Moses mentions here only so much of the report brought back as will enable him to set in marked contrast the rebellion of the people against the command of God. For the full statement of the exploration and report, see Num_13:21-33, and notes.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Eshcol - That is, of grapes, so called from the goodly cluster of grapes which they brought from thence.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

עד נחל אשכל [AND THEY CAME] TO THE BROOK OF ESHCOL — This tells us that it was so called on account of what was eventually, to happen there [— that they took from there a cluster (אשכל) of grapes] (Sifrei Devarim 22:2).

וירגלו אתה AND THEY SPIED IT OUT — This teaches that they passed through it along four lines, along the length and the breadth (Sifrei Devarim 22:3; cf. Rashi on Numbers 13:21).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼEshkôl (“Eshcol”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “Eshcol” (ʼEshkôl) shape what this verse is saying?
Genesis 14:13 shares the word «Eshcol» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וַיִּפְנוּ֙» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Joseph Benson's Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.